You could reasonably argue that House while on the run could go to a non-extradition treaty country and live out his life in some measure of comfort.

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I assume Wilson and House are already hanging out in some non-extradition treaty country. Wilson can get House settled for a long retirement. I doubt anybody would question Wilson withdrawing all his cash, for instance.

He's in the burning building because he planned the whole thing. As the final stages of his plan proceeded as intended, he wrestled with his own self doubt about seeing it through. But ultimately, House gives up his life to spend the rest of his best friend's with him, and then to move on and find some new life away from the surroundings that would inevitably lead him back to his self-destructive ways. House finally succeeds in "destroying" himself, but without actually destroying himself and being relegated to eternal boring nothingness. He finally solves the puzzle of how to change and move on to a different kind of life.

I didn't expect a happy, sappy ending (though I am a fan of them) but that IMO was episode and finale was just poo poo.

I have been a fan of House from the beginning and my biggest problem with the show is they would come up with an interesting story line and end it by the episode and then drag on the crap story lines on for ever (Tritter anyone?).

Anyhoo as someone above mentioned they show had it's run and ran out of gas a few seasons ago.

He's in the burning building because he planned the whole thing. As the final stages of his plan proceeded as intended, he wrestled with his own self doubt about seeing it through. But ultimately, House gives up his life to spend the rest of his best friend's with him, and then to move on and find some new life away from the surroundings that would inevitably lead him back to his self-destructive ways. House finally succeeds in "destroying" himself, but without actually destroying himself and being relegated to eternal boring nothingness. He finally solves the puzzle of how to change and move on to a different kind of life.

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That's certainly one viewpoint. However there's another viewpoint. House also killed the patient and use the patient's teeth to fake his own death.

The finale was underwhelming, more fitting for a season than the series. I think I feel that way at least in part because this whole Wilson-cancer thing that set everything in motion felt really rushed and not particularly organic. Also not having any sort of resolution with Cuddy was very unsatisfying. I would have given up all of the half dozen or so cameos for one Cuddy/House scene. Had they used this entire finale season to set the end up, instead of just the last four or six episodes it would have worked better.

I think the conspiracy theories about House planning everything are weak at best, considering the lengthy inner dialogues he was having throughout most of the episode. Also, he had no way of knowing that Foreman and Wilson were going to find him in the burning building, or that the roof was going to collapse at that moment. I think him faking his death was poorly written and overly convenient certainly, but not a conspiracy. It made me smile due to the overt similarity to the Holmes mythos however.

And the final shot of Wilson and House riding off together worked for me, despite not being fully satisfied.

Overall, I liked the episode. Like others, I was disappointed at the lack of a return by Cuddy. The retrospective was also excellent, although I was having a hard time trying to decipher the existence of the clown.

The one thing I never understood: Knowing that House was supposed to be an homage to Sherlock Holmes, and in ALL of the seasons...we've never seen House's Moriarty. Someone of equal cunning and intellect who becomes the bain of his existence. Now, granted, Holmes solved crimes and House...well...didn't. And yeah, we did have Tritter and before that was Vogler, but neither of those guys could really measure up. I think they missed a big opportunity to send this final season out with a bang.

The one thing I never understood: Knowing that House was supposed to be an homage to Sherlock Holmes, and in ALL of the seasons...we've never seen House's Moriarty. Someone of equal cunning and intellect who becomes the bain of his existence. Now, granted, Holmes solved crimes and House...well...didn't. And yeah, we did have Tritter and before that was Vogler, but neither of those guys could really measure up. I think they missed a big opportunity to send this final season out with a bang.

^ I've thought about the Moriarty thing too. What would his name have been on the show?

Holmes = House
Watson = Wilson
Moriarty = ?

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In looking at the etymology of the name, an Anglicization of the full Irish name "Ó Muircheartaigh", it could conceivably be "Murtagh". Or we could deviate from the origins and use the first/last letter trope like "Murray", "Mallory", "Maury", "Morley", to name a few.

The one thing I never understood: Knowing that House was supposed to be an homage to Sherlock Holmes, and in ALL of the seasons...we've never seen House's Moriarty. Someone of equal cunning and intellect who becomes the bain of his existence. Now, granted, Holmes solved crimes and House...well...didn't. And yeah, we did have Tritter and before that was Vogler, but neither of those guys could really measure up. I think they missed a big opportunity to send this final season out with a bang.

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House's Moriarty was Death.

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That is a good one - but could be considered a little too abstract for some viewers. That, and, not even House could ever beat Death.

I suppose it could even be House himself - he was already suffering from hallucinations and borderline sociopathy or some such dementia. It is possible that House could have eventually suffered from multiple personality disorder, with another intelligent and dangerous personality manifesting itself. That would have pushed him more into Jekyll/Hyde territory and away from Holmes, though.

I think the conspiracy theories about House planning everything are weak at best, considering the lengthy inner dialogues he was having throughout most of the episode. Also, he had no way of knowing that Foreman and Wilson were going to find him in the burning building, or that the roof was going to collapse at that moment. I think him faking his death was poorly written and overly convenient certainly, but not a conspiracy.

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I guess that's what's bothering me about it. It just all seemed so contrived, and I've seen it before (fake death and dental record switch. )

I also agree that the very end with House and Wilson "riding off into the sunset" was fine, and I supposed that scene was as good of a way to end it as any, but I wasn't too thrilled with how they got from point A to point B.

What would I have done different? I don't know, frankly I'm not sure what the proper conclusion to this wild ride should have been. But I just know that last episode left me unsatisfied.